Giant_and_Dwarf-FIN

Giant and Dwarfdevelopment aid. But believe me, Africa existed before you Europeans came along.And we didn’t do all that poorly either.Spiegel: But AIDS didn’t exist at that time.Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrifying reports, then all Kenyans should actuallybe dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out thatthe figures were vastly exaggerated. It’s not three million Kenyans that are infected.All of the sudden, it’s only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, butpeople rarely talk about that.Spiegel: And why’s that?Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa’s biggest business. There’s nothing else thatcan generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political diseasehere, and we should be very sceptical.Spiegel: The Americans and Europeans have frozen funds previously pledged to Kenya.The country is too corrupt, they say.Shikwati: I am afraid, though, that the money will still be transferred before long. After all,it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, the Europeans’ devastating urge to do goodcan no longer be countered with reason. It makes no sense whatsoever that directlyafter the new Kenyan government was elected—a leadership change that ended thedictatorship of Daniel arap Moi—the faucets were suddenly opened and streams ofmoney poured into the country.Spiegel: Such aid is usually earmarked for a specific objective, though.Shikwati: That doesn’t change anything. Millions of dollars earmarked for the fightagainst AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent.Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much aspossible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynicallysummed it up by saying: “The French government pays for everything in our country.We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it.”Spiegel: In the West, there are many compassionate citizens wanting to help Africa. Eachyear, they donate money and pack their old clothes into collection bags...Shikwati: ...and they flood our markets with that stuff. We can buy these donated clothescheaply at our so-called Mitumba markets. There are Germans who spend a few dollarsto get used Bayern Munich or Werder Bremen jerseys, in other words, clothes thatsome German kids sent to Africa for a good cause. After buying these jerseys, theyauction them off at Ebay and send them back to Germany—for three times the price.That’s insanity...Spiegel: ...and hopefully an exception.Shikwati: Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, ourtailors lose their livelihoods. They’re in the same position as our farmers. No one in thelow-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products.In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria’s textile industry. By 2003,188